One day after her 25th birthday Beck was awarded with third place in a photo finish, about 2.5 seconds behind the race winner, Ana Marcela Cunha of Brazil. 

Beck had arrived at the touchpad at the same time as two Italian swimmers and another German.  The swimmers’ wrist transponders registered nearly identical times.  Beck was identified as the third-place finisher by her German swim cap and was awarded the bronze medal, the other swimmers were ranked behind her.

“It was a really close finish,” Beck said. “There were a lot of girls sprinting for the finish, maybe 5 of us.  So it wasn't clear who touched ahead of the others.  It was the next day when I saw the video of the finish online that I knew the result was not correct. I clearly saw that I didn't touch ahead of my competitors. I could see my place and that I didn’t finish in third place. If I didn’t touch ahead of them, then I don't deserve the medal. I wanted to be sure that I did the right thing.”

Image Source: Istvan Derencsenyi/World Aquatics
"If I didn’t touch ahead of them, then I don't deserve the medal. I wanted to be sure that I did the right thing.”
By Leonie Beck

Beck contacted the World Aquatics office and insisted that her medal, World Cup points, and prize money be reallocated to her teammate Jeannette Spiwoks, the real third-place finisher.  They were, and Beck was awarded 5th place.

On Saturday after Beck won her world title, the 2016 Olympic open-water champion Ferry Weertman of the Netherlands presented the first-ever Open Water Fair Play Award to Beck. 

Image Source: Aniko Kovacs/World Aquatics

“Leonie is an example of how you should act as a sportsman,” Weertman said. “We salute her for wanting to be sure that the medal and the recognition go to the right swimmer. It was an act of sportsmanship worthy of our attention.”

By finishing in first place, Beck also became the first aquatic athlete to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics and the first gold medalist of the World Aquatics Championships - Fukuoka 2023.

“Leonie is an example of how you should act as a sportsman. We salute her for wanting to be sure that the medal and the recognition go to the right swimmer. It was an act of sportsmanship worthy of our attention.”
By Ferry Weertman

After the last Olympics in Tokyo, where she placed fifth in the 10km, Beck moved to Italy to train with a new coach.  In 2022, she enjoyed a steady stream of success. At last year’s Budapest World Championships, she and her German teammates won the open water team relay. In August, she won the gold medal in the 10km at the European Aquatics Championships in Ostia, Italy.  

Already this year she scored back-to-back victories in the first and second legs of the open-water World Cup events in Soma Bay, Egypt, and Golfo Aranci, Italy. Coincidentally, this year in Setubal, Portugal, she finished outside the medals, in 17th place.  But her unselfish actions in Setubal last year will long be remembered.